About Roger Bischoff

Artist Statement

As a young man, beginning at twenty-three years of age to travel around the world, I began sketching my impressions of the people I met and the places they lived, as well as land- and cityscapes, in a storyteller's manner — in an effort to portray these experiences I was privileged to have. My interest was to share these impressions with friends and family who have chosen a more settled life than I.

In 1987 I landed, through coincidence, in a stone quarry near Salzburg, Austria, at a Stone Sculpture Symposium associated with the International Sommerakademie of Salzburg. There I met Karl Prantl, Janez Lenassi, Miloslav Chlupáč and Makoto Fujiwara, some of the men from the first hour of the “Modern” Stone Sculpture Symposium. Working in that quarry, over that month, I developed my love of stone sculpting and my enthusiasm for the philosophy of the Stone Sculpture Symposium and its influence in the world.

With the help of a few “natives” in the small Bavarian village of Dettelbach, Germany, we organised three International Sculpture Symposia, carrying forward the enthusiasm and philosophy of these gatherings. As a result of this work we were able to lay the ground for a Sculpture Park on the river Main, which flows past the town of Dettelbach.

Curriculum Vitae

• 1947 — Born in Weehawken, New Jersey, USA.
• 1969 — Graduated from West Chester State College, Pennsylvania; Bachelor of Science, Health and Physical Education.
• 1972 — Study trip through Europe; the beginning of his artistic work. Several months in Tarrast, Morocco, sharing the life and work of the local fishermen.
• 1973 — Voyage aboard the M/V Peace with Abe Nathan; met the Israeli artist Moshe Gat.
• 1974 — Stay in Palma de Mallorca, studying with the Australian artist Nora Foy; voyage to Amsterdam and admission to the Rietveld Art Academy.
• 1975 — Voyage to Gran Canaria; contact with the sculptor Juan Montull. Voyage to Antigua; watercolours created.
• 1976 — Summer studies at the Woodstock School of Art, New York, under Robert Angeloch.
• 1978 — Travel to Mexico, working mainly in watercolour.
• 1979 — Salmon fishing on the Oregon coast, USA; summer studies at the Cannon Beach Art School, Oregon.
• 1980 — Studies at the Art Students League, New York, under Gustav Rehberger (life drawing and anatomy).

Exhibitions

Over the years, Roger Bischoff's sculptures and paintings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Germany and Switzerland — with presentations in Dettelbach, Bamberg, Seinsheim, Kalchreuth and Zürich, among others. He also co-founded three International Sculpture Symposia in Dettelbach and helped establish the sculpture park on the river Main.

The sculpture symposia and the sculpture park in Dettelbach are organised together with the Kulturhistorischer Kreis Dettelbach e.V.